User interface having a cross arrangement

ABSTRACT

In an audio/visual (AV) system, a method for navigation of menu options available to a user involves entering a graphical user interface (GUI) in a menu system that is displayed on a video display; generating a signal for displaying a first navigable list of menu options on the video display, the first navigable list of menu options having a plurality of fields arranged in a first linear configuration that overlays AV content currently playing on the display with one of the menu options shown at a location of the video display that is highlighted; and responsive to a navigation command from a remote controller, moving the first navigable list of menu options of the GUI to cause another field of the plurality of fields to move to the location that is highlighted, to highlight the another field while continuing to display the AV content currently playing on the video display.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED DOCUMENTS

This application is a divisional application of pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/767,473, filed Jan. 29, 2004 to Proehl et al.,which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/615,871,filed Jul. 13, 2000 to Proehl, et al, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,690,391 all ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the use of audio/visual (AV)information on display apparatus of AV systems, and more particularly tothe efficient and intuitive presentation, navigation, and selection ofavailable AV information in a graphical user interface (GUI) that isdisplayed on a display apparatus of an AV system and controlled throughjudicious manipulation of a scrolling mechanism and selection mechanismof a navigation and selection device of the AV system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The continued growth of the numerous AV options available for viewingand/or listening by users of AV systems, has made it necessary anddesirable for the users of such AV systems to be able to efficiently andintuitively navigate through the available AV options in order to selectdesired programming. The explosion in the number of cable, satellite anddigital television viewing choices, as well as the emergence of Internetwebsites dedicated to programming and music that are now available forviewing on television and computer screens via the airwaves, cable, andsatellite, has made it necessary and desirable for the user to be ableto easily navigate through more and more AV options. It is noted thatthe term “AV” as used herein may encompass solely audio, solely visual,or a combination of audio/visual.

Consider, for instance, that as the number and availability of broadcastchannels for viewing on multiple channel television broadcast systemshas continued to proliferate at an astonishing rate, the problem ofnavigating through the morass of available viewing selections hascorrespondingly become of more and more concern to the viewers of suchsystems. The sources of such programming can today provide hundreds ofstations to viewers who must navigate through myriad broadcastingchoices, a prospect that is both time-consuming and frustrating.

Many on-screen guides, such as electronic program guides (EPGs), allowthe user presented with AV programming options to navigate optionsthrough the use of four-way directional buttons and a selection button.This is a cumbersome and unsatisfactory solution, however, in that itrequires the user to use these buttons many times to reach a desiredon-screen option in the guide. There currently exists a need in the art,therefore, to be able to quickly view available AV options andinformation of an AV system. There additionally is a need in the art tobe able to quickly and intuitively navigate the AV options andinformation of the AV system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the invention to be able to quickly andintuitively view, navigate, and select available AV options andinformation of an AV system.

Therefore, according to the present invention, an improved method,navigation and selection device, GUI and system are presented. In an AVsystem having one or more AV devices, a display apparatus capable ofdisplaying interactive AV information, a navigation and selection devicehaving an integral scrolling mechanism, and a GUI displayed on thedisplay apparatus, a user of the system is able to quickly, intuitively,and efficiently navigate available AV options displayed during aninteractive mode of the GUI through appropriate manipulation of thescrolling mechanism. Related AV options are organized by managementsoftware of the navigation and selection device as items within liststhat, in turn, correspond to navigable fields of a status bar of the GUIduring the GUI interactive mode. The AV options of a list are related inthe sense that they will generally share one or more identifiablecharacteristics. A field of the status bar that is highlighted by acursor of the GUI will display its list of related AV informationoptions arranged as items within the list, assuming the highlightedfield is navigable. Items within the list may be navigated by the usersimply engaging the scrolling mechanism of the navigation and selectiondevice to scroll the items through the highlighted field of the GUIstatus bar. A different field of the status bar may be selected by theuser moving the scrolling mechanism in a lateral movement. Activation ofthe selection mechanism of the navigation and selection device willcause an AV device of the system to be controlled in accordance with theAV options displayed within the status bar fields at the time theselection mechanism is activated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are setforth in the claims.

The invention itself, however, as well as the preferred mode of use, andfurther objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood byreference to the following detailed description of an illustrativeembodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing(s),wherein:

FIGS. 1A and 2B are front and side views, respectively, of a navigationand selection device in accordance with a first navigation and selectiondevice embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are front and side views, respectively, of a navigationand selection device in accordance with a second navigation andselection device embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an AV system diagram in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of a GUI in an information display mode inaccordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 4 to 18 are screen shots of various GUIs in an interactive mode inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram of the methodology of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention presents an improved approach, including animproved system, method, navigation and selection device, and GUI, for auser of an AV system to quickly and efficiently navigate throughavailable AV options or choices of the AV system displayed via the GUIon the display apparatus through appropriate manipulation of thescrolling mechanism. The AV system has one or more AV devices, such astelevisions, CD players, VCRs, computers, set top boxes, internetapplications, etc., a display apparatus capable of displayinginteractive menus, guides, and devices controls, a navigation andselection device (remote commander) having an integral scrollingmechanism, and a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed on the displayapparatus. The GUI/navigation and selection device combination allowsthe user to easily navigate AV options that may be presented in avariety of formats, including an electronic program guide (EPG),websites, and AV device menus, on a television screen, monitor, screenor other display apparatus. The scrolling mechanism of the navigationand selection device, together with the organization of related AVinformation within the GUI, allows the user to quickly and easilynavigate the AV information and make desired selections.

Related AV options are organized by software as items within lists that,in turn, correspond to fields of a status bar of the GUI during aninteractive mode of the GUI. The software may be implemented asexecutable computer program instructions of a computer readable mediumthat, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing systemto provide for efficient navigation of available AV options in an AVsystem. The AV options of a list are related in the sense that they willgenerally share one or more identifiable characteristics. The AV optionsdisplayed as items of a navigable list of a particular field of thestatus bar may all be types of movies available for viewing, televisionchannels available for viewing, CDs available for listening, AV devicecontrols such as play, stop, fast forward, etc. The available AV viewingand/or listening options that are presented as items within verticallists are easily scanned and navigated using the scrolling mechanism ofthe navigation and selection device.

Generally speaking, the fields of the status bar are displayed in theGUI in hierarchical fashion from left to right, with the left-most fieldrepresenting the broadest category of navigation and selection availableto the user and the right-most field representing the narrowestcategory. Fields to the right of a particular field, then, may generallybe considered to be sub-categories or subsets of that particular field,although such is not always the case. When inactive (not highlighted),these fields of a status bar are presented by displaying only thecurrent or last-selected item within a field. When activated (the fieldis highlighted and the OK/select button is pressed), the field, ifnavigable, vertically expands to display not only the current orlast-selected item but also the entire list of items associated with thefield; the navigable list may then be navigated and any item of the listplaced within the field of the status bar by the user controlling thescroll wheel to highlight the desired item. A field of the status bar ishighlighted by using the lateral movement of the scrolling mechanism toplace the GUI cursor over the desired field.

Referring now to FIGS. 1A and 1B, front and side views, respectively, ofa first preferred embodiment of navigation and selection device 10,commonly referred to as a remote commander or remote control, which iscapable of providing the means by which a user can communicate with adynamic GUI to control an AV device, are shown. The navigation andselection device 10 may be any remote hardware controller for AVdevices, including audio playback devices, such as Sony's Discman orWalkman, television, cable set-top boxes, VCRs, etc. The navigation andselection device 10 may additionally be a liquid crystal display(LCD)-based remote commander used to control multiple AV devices.

Navigation and selection device 10 features an integral scrollingmechanism, shown here as a scroll wheel or cylinder 12. The user is ableto engage in interactive communication with a dynamic GUI by appropriateoperation of the navigation and selection device 10. The integratedscroll cylinder is capable of scrolling movement up and down, allowingthe user to scroll up and down through vertical fields of relatedinformation by simply scrolling the scroll cylinder up or down as willbe described. The integrated scroll cylinder additionally is capable oflateral, side-to-side movement, thereby allowing the user to highlightan item of a toolbar of the dynamic GUI as will be described; theside-to-side lateral movement of scroll cylinder 12 is indicated by thepresence of arrows pointing to the left and to the right on the remotecommander housing. Once the user has manipulated the scroll cylinder tohighlight a desired option of the GUI, that option is selected by theuser engaging the selection mechanism of the navigation and selectiondevice; in this example, engaging the selection mechanism isaccomplished by manually depressing the scroll cylinder in aperpendicular direction with respect to the axis running through thescroll cylinder. In other words, in this embodiment selection operationof the navigation and selection device is accomplished by the userpressing down on scroll cylinder 12 in a direction along the z-axis(into the paper for purposes of illustration) and perpendicular to thex-axis.

Scroll cylinder 12 thus provides smooth scrolling navigation through theavailable AV options, such as those displayed in an electronicprogramming guide (EPG), that are presented to the user via the GUI. Itis noted, however, that it is not a requirement of the present inventionthat the scrolling and selection mechanisms of the navigation andselection device be one and the same. Thus, the scroll cylinder 12 couldbe used solely for navigation while another feature of the navigationand selection device, such as a button, could perform the selectionoperation. It should be noted that the scroll wheel itself could berotary encoded, meaning that it rotates with discreet positions, or freerotating.

In addition to a scroll wheel or cylinder, the scrolling mechanism ofthe remote commander 10 may be provided by alternate scrolling devicesoffering differing scrolling speeds. Scrolling at variable speedsprovides the user with dynamic control of navigation, so that the usermay navigate quickly to far away AV choices but more slowly to closer AVoptions, for instance. Variable speed control movement may beaccomplished with a spring-loaded jog shuttle, for example. A rockerswitch, of the type commonly used on camcorder zoom buttons, forinstance, is typically capable of variable action speeds to scroll muchfaster than is a scroll wheel and thus may be more suitable fornavigating through navigable lists containing a large number of items.

In addition to scroll cylinder 12, navigation and selection device 10has power button 14, guide button 16, favorite (FAV) button 18, menubutton 20, exit button 22, volume control buttons 24, and channelcontrol button 26. Guide button 16 may be manually depressed to cause aEPG to be displayed on a display apparatus, such as a monitor, atelevision screen, or a screen of an AV device. Favorite button 18 ismanually operated to display one or more favorite AV options, such astelevision channels or audio CD tracks, for instance. Menu button 20 ismanually operated to cause a predetermined menu screen to be displayedon the display apparatus. Exit button 22 is manually operated to restoreordinary screen display. Volume control buttons 24 are manually operatedto increase or decrease the volume of sound produced by the AV devicebeing controlled by the navigation and selection device 10. Channelcontrol buttons 26 are used to manually control which broadcastingchannel is to be received by the AV device.

A second preferred embodiment of a navigation and selection device 20suitable for controlling an AV device in accordance with the presentinvention is illustrated in the front and side views, respectively, ofFIGS. 2A and 2B. Navigation and selection device 20, which may also bereferred to as a remote commander or control, also has an integralscroll cylinder, or wheel, 38, although cylinder 38 is smaller thanscroll cylinder 12 of FIGS. 1A and 1B. Also present in this particularembodiment is 4-way joy pad 34, making navigation and selection device20 very well suited for use with game applications. Navigation andselection device 20 additionally has mute button 32 and option button36.

In addition to the scroll cylinders shown in FIGS. 1A-1B and 2A-2B, thescrolling mechanism may be fulfilled by other suitable choices,including rocker switches and spring-loaded jog shuttles, for example.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the AV system, according to anembodiment of the present invention. The AV system 40 has severalcomponents used in the invention. AV options available to a user of thesystem for viewing and/or listening may be remotely or locallyavailable; there are thus two computer servers shown-remote server 44and home (local) server 48. The related AV options, also referred to asgrid information, that will be shown in vertically navigable lists ofthe GUI 62 are stored in one or more databases on a server, either localor remote, and downloaded as needed. Locally available AV information,shown as local databases 49 a-49 i, includes, for purposes ofillustration, CD Track lists 49 a, local system information 49 b, andelectronic music files 49 i, such as those in MP3 or Atrac formats, andis made available on the system to home server 48. Other AV optionsavailable for viewing and/or listening may be obtained from a remoteserver 44 over the world wide web or Internet; remote databases musicdownload databases 42 a and television program database 42 m (EPG) areexamples of AV information that can be downloaded from the remotedatabases 42 to a remote server 44 before being sent over the Internet46 to the local server 48 in response to a request. AV options orinformation include hyperlinks that permit navigation to remote sites onthe Internet using the smooth scroll GUI and remote commander of theinvention.

AV options, whether obtained locally or over the web, can be played forviewing or listening by the user on the appropriate AV device. This is agood example of how the GUI can be dynamically generated based onreceiving structured information from any source. Several types of AVdevices capable of displaying interactive menus, guides, and/or devicecontrols are shown here, for purposes of illustration, and includedigital cable set top box (STB) 52 a, compact disc (CD) player 52 b,digital video disc (DVD) player 52 c, and DV camcorder device 52 n.Other types of AV devices include digital television products, VCRs,etc. The music or AV data sought to be presented to the user of thesystem may be viewed on a display apparatus of the appropriate AV device52 (such as a CD played by CD player 52 b) or it may be viewed on adisplay apparatus 60, such as a satellite program viewed on a televisionscreen, a monitor, etc.

The dynamic GUI displayed on display apparatus 60, in conjunction withthe smooth scroll navigation and selection device 54, allow the user ofthe AV system to quickly and easily navigate through the available AVoptions and select a desired AV option in the manner that will bedescribed. Management software or program 50 manages AV devices 52 a . .. 52 n as well as the smooth scroll dynamic GUI 62 and preferablyresides within navigation and selection device 54. Software 50 ensuresthat the available AV information options provided to server 48 fromsource 41 or 49 are available for the dynamic GUI 62 when needed. Aspreviously described, the methodology of software 50 may be implementedas executable computer program instructions of a computer readablemedium that, when executed by a processing system, such as might residewithin navigation and selection device 54, cause the processing systemto provide efficient navigation of available AV options in the AVsystem.

The user manipulates the integral scrolling mechanism 56 of navigationand selection device 54 to navigate through AV options presented infields 65 of a status bar 64 that are capable of expanding whenhighlighted to reveal AV options arranged as items 66 within avertically navigable list 68. As previously mentioned, scrollingmechanism 56 is capable of lateral movement and scrolling movement, andadditionally has a selection mechanism by which desired AV informationcontained within the status bar 64 may be selected.

There are two modes of the dynamic GUI, each of which present differenttypes of information to the user. The user controls the mode of thedynamic GUI through appropriate manipulation of the remote commandernavigation and selection device. The information display mode of theGUI, activated by the user depressing an appropriate information buttonof the remote commander, or by moving the scroll wheel or cylinder 12,38 in any direction without activating its selection mechanism, causescertain information to be displayed on the display apparatus. The useris not interactive with the GUI in the information display mode; rather,certain predetermined information, such as information about the currentor last-selected AV option, is simply displayed to the user. The secondmode of the dynamic GUI is the interactive mode, during which the useris able to communicate with the GUI. The interactive mode is entered bythe user activating the selection mechanism of the navigation andselection device, in this embodiment by depressing the scroll cylinderof the remote commander in a downward direction. It is noted that theinteractive mode may be launched from the information display mode or itmay be entered directly by activation of the selection mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a representation of the information display mode of thedynamic GUI 100 presented to the user on a display apparatus, accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. The information display modeis activated by the user moving the scroll cylinder of the remotecommander without depressing it or by the user depressing an appropriateinformation button of the remote commander to enter the mode. Activationof the GUI information display mode causes the dynamic GUI 100 todisplay a status bar 102 that provides the user with informationspecifically about the AV option currently or last selected by the user,whether it be a television channel, DVD movie, CD audio track, etc.; inthis example, the selected AV option is a track of a particular musicCD, so the information displayed in the status bar 102 concerns selectedmusic CD. Again, because the user has not caused the GUI to enter theinteractive mode, the only information available to the user in theinformation display mode concerns the status of the current orlast-selected AV option. It should be noted that if the user does notenter the interactive mode of the GUI after a certain period of time,such as 4 seconds, a time-out feature of the GUI will cause the GUI tono longer be displayed on the display apparatus.

The status bar in this particular implementation has a number ofnon-navigable fields 104, 106, 108, 110, and 112 (as opposed to thenavigable fields provided in the interactive mode) displayed at the topof the GUI window 100; the term non-navigable fields refers to the factthat, since the fields 104-112 only convey information about thecurrently selected AV option, there is only one item displayed perfield, rendering them non-navigable. As will be described, the user canchoose to learn more about any field by highlighting a desired field inthe status bar with the scroll cylinder (using the lateral movement ofthe scrolling mechanism to move the cursor of the GUI over the field tobe highlighted) and then depressing the scroll cylinder downward toselect the highlighted field, thereby entering the GUI interactive mode;the non-navigable field currently highlighted in this GUI screen shot isthe CD Track Field 110, as indicated by the thicker white line thatsurrounds this field. The highlighting and subsequent selection of anyparticular non-navigable field within the status bar causes the GUI toenter the interactive mode in which the highlighted field transitionsfrom a non-navigable field to a vertically navigable field having one ormore related navigation and selection AV options arranged as itemswithin a list of the vertically navigable field, assuming that theparticular field does indeed have multiple, related AV options that canbe navigated and selected if desired.

The fields 104-112 of status bar 102 are arranged in an easily readablefashion, such as along the top of the GUI screen from left to right inhorizontal formation, preferably in a non-prominent position of the GUI.In this particular embodiment, it can be seen that the status bar isdisplayed at the very top of the GUI in what may be considered to be anon-prominent position of the screen so as to minimize any distractioncaused by the status bar; if the GUI subsequently is caused to go fromthe information display mode to the interactive mode, the status barwill assume a more prominent position in the GUI screen.

Generally speaking, in both the information display mode and theinteractive modes of operation of the GUI, the fields of a status bardisplayed in the GUI are displayed in hierarchical fashion from left toright, with the left-most field representing the broadest category ofnavigation and selection available to the user and the right-most fieldrepresenting the narrowest category. Fields to the right of a particularfield, then, may generally be considered to be sub-categories or subsetsof that particular field, although not every move to the right in thestatus bar indicates a further subdivision in the hierarchy. Thus, inthe illustration of FIG. 4, Title Field 106 is a sub-category or subsetof Application Field 104, Track Field 10 is a subset of Title Field 106,and Time Field 112 is a subset of Track Field 110. AV Device ControlField 108, while a sub-category of Application Field 104, however, isnot hierarchically smaller than Title Field 106.

The symbol within Application Field 104 of the status bar 102 indicatesthat the application of the currently selected AV option is a CD. Thename of the current CD is indicated in Title Field 106 as the MariahCarey “Butterfly” album; there also is artwork associated with the albumdisplayed in Field 106. AV Device Control Field 108 indicates that thecontrol status of the AV device being controlled by the navigation andselection remote commander device, a CD player in this example, is thatthe CD player is currently playing the Mariah Carey “Butterfly” CD.Track Field 110 indicates that track number 7, entitled “Breakdown,” iscurrently playing. Time Field 112 indicates that 43 seconds of the song“Breakdown” have been played by the AV device, the CD player.

FIG. 5 illustrates the dynamic GUI in the interactive mode. Aspreviously described, the GUI was initially launched by the user movingthe scroll cylinder 12, 38 or depressing an information button of theremote commander navigation and selection device 10, 30. Entry into theGUI interactive mode preferably causes the status bar to move from thetop, non-prominent position of the GUI (shown in FIG. 4) to a moreprominent position within the GUI, such as the center of the GUI windowas shown here. Movement of the status bar to a more prominent positionas interactive mode status bar 102 allows it to become the primary pointof visual focus when viewed on the display apparatus, even when thedisplay apparatus is viewed from across a room, for instance. The statusbar field highlighted during the information display mode was the TrackField 110, indicated by the broader white line around that field.Selection of Track Field 110, and thus subsequent entry into theinteractive mode shown in FIG. 5, causes the previously non-navigableTrack Field 110 to transition into a vertically navigable field havingone or more navigation and selection options arranged as items 202within a list 201 of the vertically navigable field 110. Of course, ifTrack Field 110 only had one navigation and selection option, it wouldnot truly be a navigable field. Additionally, only one navigable fieldof the fields 104-112 of status bar 102 may have its verticallynavigable field displayed at any given time and that is the field thatis currently highlighted by causing the cursor of the GUI to be placedover the field through lateral movement of the scroll cylinder. It isnoted that all fields of status bar 102 that have one or more navigationand selection options are potentially navigable fields while in the GUIinteractive mode.

The navigation and selection options of Track Field 110 include thetracks available for listening. In this example, the “Butterfly” CD has13 tracks as AV options available to the user of the system by simplyselecting the correct one. While all 13 CD tracks are displayed to theuser via the GUI, the list of available navigation and selection options(items) within any particular navigable field may be more number andthus may not all be viewable to the user without appropriatemanipulation of the scroll cylinder to scroll through the availablechoices. For instance, if the user had selected to see all availablecable television channels, the navigable field for cable televisionchannels could be 200, 500, or more channel options available fornavigating and selecting by the user. The remote commander scrollcylinder of the present invention allows the user to quickly and easilynavigate and select, if desired, a great number of choices listed asitems in any particular navigable field. Manipulating the scrollcylinder of the remote commander to scroll up or down through the listcauses the data to move through the stationery cursor located over thehighlighted Track Field 10 of status bar 12. The speed with whichscrolling through a navigable vertical list may be accomplished dependsupon the type of scrolling mechanism integrated into the remotecommander navigation and selection device. A rocker switch will allow auser to scroll much more quickly than a scroll wheel or cylinder and isthus particularly well suited for lists having a large number of items.Thus, for instance, a rocker switch may be the preferred scrollingmechanism for a remote commander of a television application while ascroll wheel scrolling mechanism may be suitable for the remotecommander of a CD player/changer.

Referring now to FIG. 6, it can be seen that the user has scrolled downto place track item number 10, entitled “Whenever You Call,” within thestatus bar field, causing this track to be highlighted. This tracknumber 10 has subsequently been selected by the user pressing down onthe scroll cylinder; the track is now displayed via the GUI as thecurrent CD track being played from the “Butterfly” album. The user hasmoved beyond Track Field 110 and has now highlighted the AV DeviceControl Field 108. Because the GUI is in the interactive mode, theavailable navigation and selection options, arranged as items 204, 206,208 within navigable field 108, are automatically shown when navigablefield 108 is highlighted with the scroll cylinder. Again, as in FIG. 5,only the vertically navigable list of the highlighted field isillustrated at any given time. Item 204 is the Eject CD option, item 106is the Play option, and item 108 is the Stop option within AV DeviceControl Field 108. The user may decide to eject the “Butterfly” CD, playselected track 10 called “Whenever You Call”, or stop the track simplyby using the scroll cylinder to cause the desired AV control action tobe highlighted within the status bar and then selecting that controlaction by pressing down on the scroll cylinder.

FIG. 7 provides another example of a navigable field expanding to showall the available navigation and selection options arranged as itemswithin a vertically navigable field when the field in the status bar 12is highlighted. The user has used the scroll cylinder to move the cursorwithin the GUI 200 from the Device Control Field 108 to ApplicationField 104, so that Application Field 104 is highlighted (as indicated bythe broader white line that surrounds Application Field 104 in StatusBar 102. The application options arranged as items within the list ofvertically navigable field 104 include Help Option 210, Shopping Option212, CD Player Option 214, Television Option 216, VCR Option 218, andWorld Wide Web (WWW) Option 220. By moving the scroll cylinder up anddown within the items 210-220 of the list of vertically navigable field104, the user can cause the desired Application Option to be moved intoStatus Bar 102 where it can be selected by depressing scroll cylinder12, 38. For example, the user has manipulated the scroll cylinder toplace Television Option 216 within the Application Field 104 of StatusBar 102 as shown in FIG. 8. Placement of the Television Option 216within the Application Field 104 of Status Bar 102 causes TelevisionInformation Field 225 to display “Watch TV.” It is noted that the act ofthe user scrolling down through items in the navigable Application Field104 caused an additional option, the Mail Option 222, to appear in thelist.

Selection of the Television Option 216 causes the GUI screen of FIG. 9to be displayed and further causes the AV device being controlled by theremote commander to change from a CD player or changer to a television.The GUI screen has a Television Option status bar 230 with severalvertically navigable fields, including Television Option field 216,Channel Number Field 232, Channel Name Field 238, Television ProgramTitle Field 240, and Program Time Field 242. Moving the scroll cylinderhorizontally from left-to-right or vice versa will cause the verticallynavigable field, with its navigation and selection options arranged in alist, to be displayed when highlighted within the Television Optionstatus bar 230. For example, in this GUI shot, the user has laterallymanipulated the scroll cylinder to place the cursor over Channel NumberField 232, thereby highlighting it and causing Channel Number Items 236to be displayed within list 234 as shown. The viewer can then manipulatethe scroll cylinder of the remote commander to scroll up and down theChannel Number list, thereby causing the items 236 in list 234 to movethrough the stationery cursor located at Channel Number Field 232 inTelevision Option status bar 230. Moreover, once the user has selectedthe Television Option 216 in FIG. 8, the television program currentlybeing received by the television AV device is displayed as a. “live”,moving AV program that is viewable in the background of the GUI 200.

FIG. 10 shows a GUI 200 that results from the viewer using the scrollcylinder remote commander to scroll to and then highlight a newtelevision program for viewing. In this instance, the user hashighlighted channel 102 within Channel Screen Field 232. Channel 102 isMTV and the program is “The Wallflowers Unplugged,” as indicated inChannel Name Field 238, Program Title Field 240, and Program Time Field242, respectively. The viewer has laterally manipulated the scrollcylinder of the remote commander from right to left to move the cursorfrom the Channel Number Field 232 in FIG. 9 to the left-most ApplicationField 104, which is highlighted in this figure. Now the user can movethe scroll cylinder up or down to scroll through the list of items210-222 of navigable Application Field 102.

The GUI screen shot illustrated in FIG. 11 was generated by the viewermoving the scroll cylinder 12, 38 from Application Field 104 to ChannelName Field 238. It can be seen that the Channel Name options of ChannelName Field 238 are arranged as items 244 within a vertically arrangedlist 246 of the field that is navigable and selectable via the scrollcylinder. Again, the user can scroll up or down through the ChannelNames. The cursor over Channel Name Field 238 stays stationery while thedata of the Channel Names moves through the stationery cursor. When thedesired Channel Name is displayed within the stationery cursor overChannel Name Field 238, it may be selected by the user depressing thescroll cylinder.

As indicated previously, the user can navigate from one application toanother. In FIG. 12, the user has navigated to the CD Player Option 214from Television Option 216 by moving the scroll cylinder to theleft-most field of status bar 230 to highlight Application Field 104 andthen scrolling through the choices of Application Field to highlight andselect CD Player Option 216. Selection of CD Player Option 216 causes CDPlayer status bar 250 to be shown in GUI 200. CD Player status bar 250has a number of navigable fields, including Application Field 216, MusicCategory Field 256 having a number of music choices (Alternative,Electronica, Folk, Indie Rock, Vinyl, Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Sound Tracks,Rock/pop, Country, etc.) arranged as items 252 in a vertically navigablelist 254, Music Title Field 258 which has the artwork associated withthe Miles Davis album, and Music Title Length Field 259. Again, thesefields, with the exception of the Music Title Length Field 259, areshown as a navigable vertical list of related choices when highlightedby the GUI cursor. If one were to use the scroll mechanism to highlightMusic Title Field 258, for instance, a vertically arranged list ofavailable Jazz Music Title Options would be illustrated in that field;the vertically navigable list of the Music Category Field 254 woulddisappear when the user has navigated from the Music Category Field 254to the Music Title Field 258.

In FIG. 13, the user has used the scroll mechanism 12, 38 to scrollthrough the list 254 of items 252 of the Music Category Field 256 untilthe “Rock/pop” choice is highlighted within the Music Category Field 256of CD Player status bar 250. The album by “George Michael,” includingthe artwork of the album, appears within Music Title Field 258, althoughadditional Rock/pop choices would be displayed in a vertically navigablelist of item choices if one were to highlight the Music Title Field 258,as illustrated in FIG. 14. The “George Michael” album has a length ofone hour and 45 minutes, as shown in Music Title Length Field 259.

Referring now to FIG. 14, the user has used the scrolling mechanism ofthe remote commander navigation and selection device to highlight theMusic Title Field 258, thereby causing a vertically navigable list 262of Rock/Pop item choices 260 to be displayed. Among the Rock/pop albumitems 260 available for navigation and selected in vertically navigablelist 262 are the following: “Crazy, Sexy, Cool” by NSYNC, “Up” byR.E.M., “Ladies and Gentlemen . . . ” by George Michael, “The JoshuaTree” by U2, “Full of Spirit” by Jewel, and “Butterfly” by Mariah Carey.Music Title Length Field 259 indicates that the George Michael album isone hour and 45 minutes in length. It is noted that note every field ofa status bar, such as CD Player status bar 250, is a verticallynavigable field. Music Title Length Field 259, for instance, is not avertically navigable field and simply displays the total length of thealbum currently highlighted within Music Title Field 258.

The choices (items) of a vertically navigable list of the presentinvention may also be hypertext links suitable for navigating or“surfing” to a desired location on the Internet; this is particularlysuitable for on-line shopping. The user has caused the new status bar310 of GUI 300 of FIG. 15 to appear by moving the cursor from MusicTitle Field 258 of status bar 250 to Application Field 104 andmanipulating the scrolling mechanism of the remote commander tohighlight the Shopping Option 212. Highlighting the Shopping Optioncauses a status bar 310, specific to Shopping Option 212 to appear inthe GUI 300. In addition to Application Field 104, there is ShoppingCategory Field 312, Shopping Subcategory Field 314 (a subcategory ofShopping Category Field 312), Shopping Item Field 316, and Shopping ItemPrice Field 318. Shopping Category Field 312, if highlighted, would be avertically navigable field having a list of shopping category items thatmay be browsed while in the Shopping Option 212. In addition to theMusic item shown in Shopping Category Field 312, other Shopping Categoryitems might include, for example, Movies, Tickets, Clothing, Gaines,etc. Shopping Subcategory Field 314 is a subcategory of ShoppingCategory Field 312 in that when highlighted a list of items related tothe Shopping Category shown in Field 312 is displayed. For instance, ifone were to move the scrolling mechanism of the remote commander tohighlight Shopping Subcategory Field 314, a vertically navigable list ofitem (choices) related to the “Music” Shopping Category 312 would bedisplayed. Thus, in addition to “Rock/pop,” other subcategories of Musicmight include Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Country, Classical, Children, etc.,similar to the items 252 shown in list 254 of FIGS. 12 and 13, forexample. Or, if the option highlighted within Shopping Category Field312 was “Movies” rather than “Music,” the Shopping Subcategory Field314, when highlighted, might consist of a vertically navigable listcontaining Action, Science Fiction, Black and White, Kung Fu, Drama,etc., as items within the list. Shopping Item Field 316 is a field that,when highlighted, will display items available for purchase within theSubcategory Field 314. Thus for the “Rock/pop” subcategory 314, anavigable list similar to the items 260 of list 262 of Music Title Field258 in FIG. 14, including the Fiona Apple album currently shown, couldbe displayed when Shopping Field 316 is highlighted. Finally, ShoppingItem Price Field 318 displays the price of the item highlighted withinShopping Field 316 that is for sale; Price Field 318 may be anon-navigable field if there is only one price associated with the itemdisplayed in Shopping Field 316 or Price Field 318 may be a navigablelist if there are multiple prices associated with the item displayed inShopping Field 316 (such as different prices for CD and cassette tape,for instance). It is noted that the fields of Shopping Option status bar310 are relevant to the item highlighted within Shopping Category Field312 but would of course change if the item within Shopping CategoryField 312 were changed.

The GUI user can decide to select the items displayed within ShoppingOption status bar 310 by pressing down on the scrolling mechanism of theremote commander; the GUI 400 of FIG. 16 will be displayed. The GUI 400is interesting because the items displayed in a vertically navigablelist, namely, “Bookmark,” Preview,” “Purchase,” “Cancel,” and “Add toCart,” are hyperlinks 402 that, when selected, automatically navigate toa location on the WWW that allow the function indicated by the hyperlinkto be carried out. For example, by the user selecting the “Purchase”hyperlink the user can automatically navigate to a website correspondingto the hyperlink, that allows purchase of Fiona Apple's “Tidal” album.

FIGS. 17-18 present a further example of the use of hypertext links asitems within a vertically navigable field. In FIGS. 15-16, the Musiccategory 312 of Shopping Option 212 was selected. In FIGS. 17-18,another category of Shopping, “Movies,” is selected to generate thestatus bar 310 of FIG. 17. Status bar 310 has the following fields:Application Field 104, Shopping Category Field 312 (in which the item“Movies” is highlighted), Shopping Subcategory Field 314, Shopping ItemField 316, and Shopping Item Price Field 318. As in FIG. 15, SubcategoryField 314 is a subset of the item displayed in Shopping Category 312,Shopping Item Field 316 is a subset of Subcategory Field 314, and PriceField 318 is a subset of Shopping Item Field 316. In other words,“Movies” is the category, “Drama” is the subcategory, the move “Titanic”is the shopping item, and the price displayed in Field 318 is the priceof the movie “Titanic.” Again, by using the scrolling mechanism tohighlight a field of the status bar 310, the options arranged as itemswithin a vertical list of the field are displayed. In this example, thevarious types of movies, in addition to “Drama” could be displayed byhighlighting Field 314 and all the available Drama movies could bedisplayed by highlighting Field 316.

Now, when the user selects the choices highlighted within Fields 212,312, 314, 316, and 318 of status bar 310, the GUI 400 of FIG. 18 isdisplayed. GUI 400 includes the active video of the movie “Titanic” 402and additionally includes hyperlinks 406-414 arranged in a vertical list404 to sites on the Internet at which the functionality indicated by thehyperlinks may be carried out. Hyperlink 406, with a picture of aTitanic VCR tape, can be chosen to navigate to an Internet site at whichthe movie may be purchased. Hyperlink 408, which displays a T-shirt witha scene from the movie, can be selected to navigate to an Internet siteat which movie-related merchandising, such as clothing, posters, etc.,may be purchased. Hyperlink 410 displays a globe with the text “movieinfo” and can be selected to navigate to an Internet site where the usercan find out more about the movie “Titanic.” Hyperlink 412 displays apicture of actor Leonardo DiCaprio and this hyperlink can be selected tonavigate to a website that will tell the user more about the actor andwhere actor-related products may be purchased, such as a fan club siteon the Internet. Hyperlink 414 displays a CD and CD cover artwork, andmay be selected to navigate to a site where the score the movie may bepurchased. It is interesting to note that in this example, only onenavigable list 404 of AV options is available and is thus alwaysdisplayed when the user navigates to this site. Hyperlinks 406, 408,412, and 414 provide an example in which the hyperlink items ofvertically navigable list 404 are solely visual in nature and, indeed,illustrate that they need not be text-based at all.

FIG. 19 is a flow diagram 500 that illustrates the methodology of thepresent invention. This methodology may be implemented as executablecomputer program instructions of a computer readable medium that whenexecuted by a processing system, such as might reside within navigationand selection device 54, for instance, cause the processing system toprovide efficient navigation of AV options in an AV system. At DecisionBlock 510, the inquiry is whether movement of the scrolling mechanismhas been detected by the management software 50 since movement of thescrolling mechanism is needed to enter either the information displaymode or the interactive mode of the GUI. If no movement has beendetected, then the inquiry of Decision Block 510 is repeated in orderthat any subsequent movement may be detected. If movement of thescrolling mechanism is detected, then the inquiry at Decision Block 520is whether the selection mechanism of the navigation and detectiondevice has been activated. As previously described, the selectionmechanism and scrolling may be the same (although this is noterequired), as in the case of the above-described scroll cylinder whichprovides lateral movement, scrolling movement, and a selection means.The selection mechanism could be a button of the navigation andselection device, for instance, and would thus be distinct from thescrolling mechanism. If activation of the selection mechanism has notoccurred but movement of the scrolling mechanism has been detected, thenthe management software 50 causes the information display mode of theGUI to be entered at Block 530. At Block 540, in the information displaymode the GUI is displayed on the display apparatus 60 with the statusbar located in a non-prominent position of the GUI screen and thelast-selected AV options are displayed in the fields of the status bar.At Decision Block 550, an inquiry into whether the time-out mechanism ofthe information display mode has been activated ensures that after apredetermined period of time, such as four seconds, the GUI will nolonger be displayed. It is noted that Blocks 510-550 of flow 500 areoptional, as indicated by the dashed lines. The GUI interactive mode maybe directly entered without first entering the GUI information displaymode by the user activating the selection mechanism without first movingthe scrolling mechanism of the navigation and selection device. Theinteractive mode may be directly entered by depressing the scrollcylinder shown in FIGS. 1-2, for instance.

Referring back to Decision Block 520, if the selection mechanism hasbeen activated the GUI interactive mode is entered at Block 560. The GUIwith status bar is prominently displayed within the GUI and thelast-selected AV options are displayed in the fields of the status bar,as shown in Block 570. At Decision Block 580, the inquiry is whether thefield of the status bar that is highlighted by the GUI cursor is anavigable field. If so, then at Block 590 management software 50 causesthe AV options arranged as items 66 of the list 68 of the navigablefield to be displayed on the display apparatus 60; the AV optionsarranged as items within the list are provided by the appropriatedatabase, either local 49 or remote 42 (including over the Internet). AtDecision Block 600, whether scrolling movement of the scrollingmechanism is detected, caused by the user using the scrolling mechanismto scroll in an up and/or down direction, is the inquiry. If scrollingmovement is detected, then at Block 610 items of the navigable list arescrolled through the highlighted field in accordance with the scrollingmovement. This permits a particular AV option item within a listassociated with a field to be placed within the highlighted field. AtDecision Block 620, the inquiry is whether lateral movement of thescrolling mechanism is detected. If so, then at Block 630, themanagement software causes GUI cursor to move laterally across thestatus bar in accordance with the lateral movement of the scrollingmechanism. This allows a new field within the status bar to behighlighted if desired. It is noted that the order to Decision Blocks600 and 620 may be reversed without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. At Decision Block 640, management software 50determines whether the selection mechanism of the navigation andselection device 54 has been activated. If so, indicating that the AVoptions currently chosen and displayed within the fields of the statusbar are to be implemented, then software 50 at Block 650 controls the AVdevice 52 indicated by the status bar and in the manner indicated by thefields of the status bar. Finally, Decision Block 660 causes themethodology of Blocks 580-650 to be repeated unless a time-out mechanismof the interactive mode has been activated, in which case, the flowreturns to the beginning.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.For instance, while vertical navigation of AV options has been describedin connection with the preferred embodiment, it is recognized that thepresent invention also encompasses non-vertical navigation such ashorizontal navigation which may be effected by utilizes an verticallyarranged status bar in the GUI.

1. In an audio/visual (AV) system, a method for navigation of menuoptions available to a user of the AV system, comprising: entering agraphical user interface (GUI) in a menu system that is displayed on avideo display; generating a signal for displaying a first navigable listof menu options on the video display, the first navigable list of menuoptions having a plurality of fields arranged in a first linearconfiguration that overlays AV content currently playing on the displaywith one of the menu options shown at a location of the video displaythat is highlighted; and responsive to a navigation command from aremote controller, moving the first navigable list of menu options ofthe GUI to cause another field of the plurality of fields to move to thelocation that is highlighted, and thus highlight the another field whilecontinuing to display the AV content currently playing on the videodisplay.
 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:responsive to a navigation command from the remote controller,generating a signal for displaying a second navigable list of menuoptions associated with the highlighted field, the second navigable listof menu options arranged in a second linearly configured set of fieldswhich intersect the first linear configuration of fields of the firstnavigable list of menu options at the highlighted location andoverlaying the AV content currently playing on the video display.
 3. Themethod according to claim 2, further comprising: navigating to a menuoption of the second navigable list of menu options in response to anavigation command.
 4. The method according to claim 3, furthercomprising: selecting the menu option of the second navigable list inresponse to a selection command from the remote controller, wherein theAV content currently playing on the video display continues to playunless the menu option selected is a menu option that begins playing adifferent selection of AV content.
 5. The method according to claim 4,further comprising: upon selection of the menu option from the secondnavigable list, ceasing the generating of the signals for displaying thefirst and second navigable list of menu options so that the first andsecond navigable list of menu options disappear from the video displayand taking an action associated with the menu selection.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein the first linear configuration of thefirst menu is oriented substantially horizontally, and the second linearconfiguration of the second menu is oriented substantially vertically.7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first linearconfiguration of the first menu is oriented substantially vertically,and the second linear configuration of the second menu is orientedsubstantially horizontally.
 8. The method according to claim 2, whereinthe first linear configuration of the first menu is orientedsubstantially at a right angle to the second linear configuration of thesecond menu.